This case study examines the successful merger of two Gatsby repositories for Red Lion Hotels and Sonesta Hotels & Resorts. The project presented two major challenges, supporting spikes in traffic and migrating from Drupal 7 to a new frontend. To address these challenges, the team opted for a Gatsby + Drupal stack, which proved to be highly effective. This case study explores the technology used and the workflows and deployment processes implemented to achieve the desired results.
Challenges
The project presented two major challenges for the team. Firstly, it was important to support spikes in traffic to the website. Secondly, the migration from Drupal 7 to a new frontend presented a significant technical challenge.
Solution
To address these challenges, the team opted for a Gatsby + Drupal stack. Gatsby, being a modern web technology, supports React and provides built-in Drupal integration. Gatsby's Jamstack architecture compiles the entire website into a simple directory of static assets, which can be served through a content delivery network (CDN). This approach delivers predictable and cost-effective availability for practically unlimited amounts of traffic.
The team implemented new workflows and deployment processes, including internationalization, deployment, and hosting, to the new stack. Sonesta chose to leverage Gatsby Cloud for builds and an enterprise-grade CDN. With Gatsby Cloud, the Sonesta web team could spin up as many microsites as needed and support newly acquired restaurants and larger hotels while only paying for bandwidth. This approach allowed the team to handle hundreds of thousands of visitors and tens of terabytes of bandwidth every month, making it a highly scalable and cost-effective solution.
By consolidating the two frontend teams into one and using the same Drupal 9 backend, the team was able to prevent code duplication and improve efficiency. The new website showcased hundreds of hotels and resorts across the United States, providing customers with a better view of what Red Lion Hotels and Sonesta Hotels & Resorts had to offer.
Results
The successful migration to Gatsby demonstrated the brand's commitment to providing customers with a better user experience and showcasing the brand's offerings. Overall, the adoption of Gatsby and Drupal, coupled with the efficient workflows and deployment processes, played a critical role in the successful merger of the two Gatsby repositories for Red Lion Hotels and Sonesta Hotels & Resorts.
Conclusion
This case study highlights the importance of selecting the right technology stack and implementing effective workflows to achieve the desired results. The Gatsby + Drupal stack provided a highly effective solution that was able to handle spikes in traffic and the migration from Drupal 7 to a new frontend. By consolidating the two frontend teams into one and using the same Drupal 9 backend, the team was able to prevent code duplication and improve efficiency. The result was a highly scalable and cost-effective solution that showcased hundreds of hotels and resorts across the United States, providing customers with a better user experience.